Foxcatcher

Plot Summary

Mark Schultz is an Olympic gold medalist who took the top spot for freestyle wrestling at the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics. Post that glittering moment however, he seems to have come up on some hard times. He lives in a run-down area and eats junk food. He passes his nights playing Nintendo GameBoy after training every day in his brother’s gym. In fact, their bond is established early in the film when Mark and Dave spar in the gym. Even after an Olympic win though, Mark still feels that he is in his older brother’s shadow. One night, Mark receives a telephone call from John du Pont’s estate and is flown to John’s family estate in Pennsylvania. After an introductory talk where John tells Mark that he wants to win a wrestling gold for America at the Seoul Olympics and reclaim America’s glory on the sporting stage, as he is a patriot, he then takes Mark to a private wrestling training facility that he has built. Swayed by John’s speech and charisma, not to mention being surrounded by the trappings of success, Mark accepts the offer. John tells Mark that he would like his brother Dave – himself a great wrestler and even better as a trainer – to also move to the estate. Mark says that Dave is settled back home with his family and won’t move, despite any price that John might offer.

Mark is put up in ‘the chalet’ which is a modest term for a place that Mark would never have dreamed of affording. Soon they strike up a friendship and Mark flourishes in Team Foxcatcher. They win in France at the 1987 Wrestling Championships and win back in the States. Du pont showers Mark with praise and has him accompany him everywhere – even to fundraisers and formal events where he asks Mark to give a speech of praise to John. In the helicopter en route to one such event, John introduces Mark to cocaine to help with his nervousness before the speech. Mark, while initially shunning alcohol, soon dives into it and starts using cocaine regularly. This period marks the high watermark (no pun intended!) of their friendship. We see the two of them so close that they have sweaty wrestling practice sessions together and Mark even trims John’s hair. John then tells Mark that he is the only friend he ever had. He says he had a friend once during childhood but that ended when he realized that his mother used to pay that person to be friends with John. His mother is pretty unhappy about John’s choice in his latest sporting indulgence. One day, Mark and his teammates in Foxcatcher take a morning off from training to watch mixed martial arts (MMA) on TV. John meanwhile goes to the gym and finding it empty, goes to Mark’s chalet where he finds the team drinking beer, smoking pot and chilling during the hours when they need to be training as the Olympics is just a month or two away. John is pretty pissed off at the fact that they have missed their training but also more pissed off by the fact that Mark has been taking decisions about when they should train and when they should take an off. He then slaps Mark calling him an ungrateful ape and says that he'll enlist Dave by any means necessary, no matter what the price.

Dave then moves with his family to Pennsylvania so he can join Foxcatcher. Mark meanwhile is in freefall. Never one who was emotionally mature, his self-esteem nosedives and he begins to slacken, lose matches and grossly overeat. Notwithstanding an earlier pep talk he had received from John saying that Mark should move out of his brother’s shadow and build his own life, Mark now pushes both John and Dave away – despite the fact that it is these two who were important support structures in his life. During a training session, du Pont's mother is escorted into the Foxcatcher gym to watch him coach his team. John tries to impress his mother with some basic moves but Jean (his mother’s name) leaves in disgust after seeing her son in such close physical contact with a student.

Mark almost loses his chance at the 1988 Olympic Trials in Pensacola, Florida. Deeply angered by his failure, he trashes his hotel room and goes on an eating binge. Dave the breaks into his room and finds Mark asleep and depressed. He gets him out of the stupor, Makes Mark throw up what he has eaten and makes him work out on an exercise bike to lose the 12 pounds weight in 90 minutes that he has gained. While Mark exercises, Dave prevents John from approaching Mark as the latter is very upset with John. Mark manages to win and qualify for the Olympics. John though leaves in a hurry as his mother had passed away. Back at the estate, John lets his mother’s beloved horses run wild. Mark then tells Dave that he knows he won’t be welcome to live at Foxcatcher after the Olympics and they should leave and head back to their home. Meanwhile, Dave is asked to help out with a documentaty on John praising his coaching qualities. Regardless of his outcome at the Olympics, Dave tells John that Mark needs to be financlaiiy supported. This is done in exchange for John being able to sit in Mark’s corner during the match. Mark loses though and the next scene has Dave and family driving back to their home at Foxcatcher base. They are stopped by the security and they learn that they have to move out.

On a cold winter’s morning, we see John sitting alone in the trophy room where he first had a chat with Mark and is watching the now-finished documentary. After it is done, he turns off the television set and switches off the VCR. He asks a guard outside if it is still snowing and tells him to warm up his Lincoln Town Car. John then drives to Dave’s home, slowly pulls up beside Dave, who is working on his own car repairs, rolls down his window, and asks Dave "Do you have a problem with me?" He then shoots him at close range three times with a .44 caliber magnum revolver. Dave's wife calls 911 and as du Pont drives off she runs outside to her husband who dies in her arms. Du Pont is subsequently arrested and the film ends showing Mark as he competes in a cage fighting match with the crowd's cheers reverberating in the arena.